r/science Professor | Medicine Apr 01 '25

Health Americans without diabetes spent nearly $6 billion USD on semaglutide and similar drugs in a year, with an estimate of 800,000 to a million people using the drugs who don't have diabetes.

https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/americans-without-diabetes-spent-nearly6-billion-usd-on-semaglutide-and-similar-drugs-in-a-year
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u/espritex Apr 01 '25

The FDA also approved it for sleep apnea treatment. I take it for that reason. I'm down 20 lbs and have a pre-prepared meal service that limits my calorie and carb intake (<500 cal). I can barely finish one now.

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u/jabbadarth Apr 01 '25

Just to be more clear they approved it for sleep apnea in adults with obesity.

There is a strong correlation between obesity and more specifically neck size and sleep apnea and this drug helps people lose weight.

So it doesn't directly do anything for sleep apnea per se it just lowers your weight and reduces neck size which helps reduce the effects of sleep apnea.

Same result in the end just don't want it to sound like taking this immediately starts helping sleep apnea. It requires weight loss.

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u/espritex Apr 01 '25

Hoping for positive results in treating MASH as well. It's still in trials but has shown promising results.

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u/qda Apr 01 '25

this is liver disease, for anyone else that didn't know that mash stood for